Bollywood

It may have been the reason for “Housefull” signs in theatres again, but the first instalment of Ayan Mukerji’s much-awaited fantasy trilogy met with mixed reactions. The dialogues in particular, which were intended to polish the film’s aspirational edge, came under fire because of the purported inauthenticity of their phrasing. We explore the film’s relationship to language and how Dharma Productions, an industry powerhouse that has successfully employed Hinglish in several of its productions, failed to do the same thing in its most globally ambitious project yet
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Much has been written about Ranveer Singh’s untraditional off-screen persona, so on the heels of ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ we instead deconstruct the actor’s displays of masculinities across his filmography to understand how he has chipped away at the toxic convention of a “mass hero” — whose contemporary avatar has increasingly been playing to the Hindutva imagination — and the innate gentleness that underpins several of his roles
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‘Sharmaji Namkeen’ marked a pivotal departure for mainstream Indian cinema with the casting of Paresh Rawal as the same character played by Rishi Kapoor, who passed away unexpectedly during the filming. We consider the willing acceptance of this unconventional solution — likely encouraged by Ranbir Kapoor’s personalised introduction before the opening credits — and what it says about Indian spectatorship, celebrity culture and the audience’s relationship with Bollywood’s “first family”
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Economist and author of the popular book ‘Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh: India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy’, Shrayana Bhattacharya breaks down her findings on romantic desire and freedom, fantasising as a form of self-care and how the Bollywood superstar’s icon interacts with the socio-economic structures that define our deeply capitalistic notions of romantic love
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Badhaai Do has brought up a familiar discourse around non-heterosexual narratives in mainstream Hindi cinema with its portrayal of a lavender marriage between a gay cop and a lesbian PT Teacher. Madhavi Menon, professor of English at Ashoka University and author of The Law of Desire: Rulings on Sex and Sexuality in India, speaks to J. Shruti about reading queerness into Indian films, and why she is suspicious of mainstream queer representation
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Movie prosthetics artist Zuby Johal uses innovative make-up techniques and can scare the wits out of you…. She also displays an innate love of fashion, with the desire to extend her expertise in working with silicone to the clothing and lifestyle sectors…
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